All schools in the UK are required to support children with Special Educational Needs, and the numbers are increasing, with over 100,000 more pupils registered SEN in 2024 than in 2023. This means an increasing challenge for education clients and designers to ensure spaces are inclusive for a wide range of needs, and effectively which combine a healthcare brief with that of education to the best outcomes possible for all within budgetary constraints.
Helping education clients provide supportive environments for all pupils across primary, secondary and further education is challenging but possible, as many best practice case studies show. In this solutions-focused round table discussion we are bringing together a multi-disciplinary group to discuss the current options available to specifiers, and the opportunities for innovation.
To help give all children, including those with conditions such as autism and dyslexia equal access to education to develop their skills and realise their full potential, careful evidence-based design approaches are required to create supportive classrooms and other spaces. They also need to be adaptable to the new technologies used to assist SEN children to achieve equality of opportunity at school.
As well as being legible, and limiting distraction, sensory factors such as acoustics, lighting levels, air quality, visibility and temperature must be paramount concerns. In addition, technology such as digital tools can be harnessed to personalise education for SEN pupils and increase their chances of success, but it needs to be incorporated into designs.
Our round table discussion will discuss the practical and administrative obstacles to remove as well as the design ideas which can help prevent SEN children from being excluded from maximising educational success as they were in the past. Whether this is bringing equality of access and accessibility to and within settings, or achieving the required footprint to include choices of room type for all needs, and optimum circulation, we will look at what architects and manufacturers should be considering to achieve the balance needed with good design.